2013-04-28 - Tryin' To Catch Me Fightin' Dirty
Kara Zor-El and Barbara were busy just getting Barbara settled into her apartment. They were going to go watch that ET movie afterwards, but somehow talk started to be about Kara asking what Valkyries do exactly. Then it progressed to talking about warrior cultures. That caused them to talk about Norse warriors and Amazons, given their respective training. Which then also brought up fighting styles in general, and Kara brought up Klukor - a word Valkyrie had likely never heard of before. So when Kara mentioned it was an alien fighting style, Barbara asked about sparring to see it and how Amazons fight too. Then Kara mentioned that the Titans had a gym which had equipment and a fighting area where superhumans could practice. Of course, that meant Barbara would be able to see a real superhero headquarters. Or at least the gym of one. So a quick flight and 10 minutes later, they're no longer in Metropolis but in San Franscisco (admittedly slow but Kara tends to fly slower when having a passenger), in the Titans Gym. "OHMIGOOOOOOOOOOODS!", it's all Valkyrie can scream as she runs about the gym with arms wide open as if the norsewoman is trying to hug air. Upon getting close to any of the quadrants the woman just slams herself against ghe glass, like a kid, looking inside with the face mashed against the see-through surface. A few moments watching it like a maniac the girl will whisper "Socool." before running somewhere else. This takes quite some time and it's fairly obvious to Kara that her friend has probably all but forgotten about why they even came here in the first place, something that gets pretty obvious when the asgardian takes her sword mid-run, changes her own clothes to just a pair of panties and bra, curiously simple, white and without any details, drops Dragonfang and just jumps inside the pool yelling "ODIN!", laughing out loud before water embraces her fit body. "THIS IS THE BEST HQ EVER!", Barbara yells once she has her head out of the water, her golden mane of hair flowing down her back as she swims to the border "Avenger's Mansion is SO not like this! I saw an Oprah episode with Wonder Man or something, and he was totally saying stuff about the place, and this kicks ass! OHMIGODS, I'm in Valhalla, even though women can't be there, I totally am.". Floating on her back the woman closes her eyes and moans out loud. Never one to even have hot water in her home, now Barbara is tasting something that, to her, is the life of a god. Kara Zor-El tries to tell Barbara what each of the things she's running to are. "Okay well this is the treadmill - they actually designed it so even me and Impulse can use it without it burning ou-" And then Barbara's runing to another thing. "Oh and that's the weights. The ones on the left are conventional, but they only go up to about 20 tons, the ones on the right use some sort of magnetic attraction and it goes up to 250 tons, but Robin reconfigured that last one so it can go up to 250 megatons. It's still not realy enough but unless I want to be lifting like... super oil tankers it's not that bad. Plus it would be a real power drain just for a workout anyway and I -" Annnnd Valkyrie's running to the pool and jumping in. Kara thinks about what Barbara said. "Wait, why arent women allowed at that Valhalla place, I thought you said Valkyries are Asgardian and warriors and Valhalla is some sort of warrior clubhouse?" she asks to the woman in the pool. Barbara spits out some water and smiles as it falls all over her face while swimming on her back "Women like me, Valkyrior, are the ones who protect the souls of those, like, awesome, strapping warrior men and take them to Valhalla, to rest forever in the halls of the All-Father... but, well, women and men who die, like, dishonorable deaths don't go to Valhalla!". Barbara stands inside the pool, and swims closer to where Kara is, at the border, still smilling "Those viking guys usually say that there is not a death so bad as a woman's death, so I guess there's that! Valhalla is not for women! And the Valkyrior take the men there when they die! That's like, my function, I think!" Kara Zor-El tilts her head. "And... no women at all? What happens when female warriors die?" Normally Kara would question the whole 'dying' thing, but she knows about Gods and Goddesses from living on Themyscira - it happens, at least on Earth. But on Krypton, when you die, you die. Rao and the Flamebird are just stories. Much that she'd like it to be otherwise. She offers her hand to Barbara. "Cmon, out of the pool, need to show you the other stuff?" she says with a smile. "I'm in the Titans so I'm sure I can invite you here all the time. Only a few floors are off limits to non-members." Taking her friend's hand Valkyrie is out of the pool, grabbing Dragonfang and changing her clothes again into a towel, snuggly fit around her body as she walks. "Women go the same place cowards, kids and men who died in their sleep go... they probably go to Hel, unsung. Kinda harsh, huh?", the girl smirks some, not entirely happy with her predictment but shrugging eitherway. For someone who is destined to go to someplace that sounds a lot like Hell, Barbara seems strangely okay with it. "Oh, I can totally keep away from the superheroey stuff! I mean... if we are going to get in trouble I can go, too... I'm already super glad I even got to see where you are, like, with your team... I don't wanna embarass you or anything!", the asgardian speaks and smiles, leaning in to kiss Supergirl's shoulder before following her friend watching everything with a gleam on her eyes. Kara Zor-El frowns at how Barbara's describing this. "They go to Hell? Seriously?" Okay, Kryptonains don't have a 'Hell' (or a Hel) but she's heard a little about it - it doesnt sound like a nice place. "But you're not a coward. Why would you be okay with that? Wait... KIDS go to..." she shakes her head a bit as they walk to the sparring area. "You're totally not embarrassing me, and I'm not going to get in trouble, trust me." "I -know- it sounds bad, but hey, what can you do, right? Valhalla is for men, I mean, I would know! I'm like, Valkyrie!", she says with a laugh, using her beloved Dragonfang to once again change her attire into something more sporty, with leggings and a sportsbra as they arrive at the sparring area. "You know... I really like how you talk about me. I get all warm. And it's not like, hot and like I do when I think of Thor? It's like when I think of home, sometimes...", the girl muses before leaving Dragonfang on a corner. "So! Ready to show me the kucklos? Kunkl... KUKLOR! Show me the kuklor!", and finally getting it right the girl does the 'V' sign of victory to her friend. Kara Zor-El smiles a little at Valkyrie as she talks about how she feels around her. "But... can't you, I don't know, challenge for some sort of right by combat or something?" She pauses. "Maybe that's Klingons...I've been watching this TV show that Dedrick showed me called Star Trek." She shrugs a little, then says, when Barbara starts asking about Klukor. "Oh it's a Kryptonian martial art. Closes thing to Earth martial arts would be I guess a mixture of hard soft forms, sort of like, I don't know... Karate meets Kung Fu meets Aikido... maybe. It's definitely not like Amazonian or Apokoliptian martial arts. Those are definitely purely hard forms." She pushes some buttons. "Okay step in. We can try some stuff - this training area has a kinetic dampening field good for several hundred tons of force. You know, so people don't wind up destroying the foundation of the building during a spar." Kara talks a lot about Aikido, hard forms, soft forms, Apokoliptian things, Klingons, kinectic dampening fields, and it's all too obvious on Barbara's face that she doesn't understand a single word, but she doesn't attempt to hide it, even if she looks uncomfortable at being so, as she would put it, lame. "Errr... so... you kinda come from a planet of ninjas?", it's the best she can come up with, blushing some but decidedly making a joke about martial arts and Krypton. Valkyrie is decidedly more vulnerable when with Kara, it's obvious she wants to impress the girl even more than she wanted to impress Superman. Also, it is possible Barbara doesn't even notice it. Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "No." she says with a grin. "Actually Krypton was ruled by a Science Council for over 300 years, and before that a Military Council, but my father had me training in Klukor since I was five. I think wanted me to have a balanced upbringing, since he was pretty sure I was going to be in the Science Guild like my mom was." She grins as she pushes some buttons once Barbara comes inside. "When I came to Earth, they had me train on this island of Amazons called Themyscira. I think it's probably a lot like that Valhalla place, but no men allowed." She pauses. "I guess that's actually pretty sexist too, though they did make an exception for a few men like my cousin and Batman. They'd probably love you." She turns around to Barbara. "Okay so um... what sort of sparring are you wanting to do?" "Hah! So you are kinda like a kryptonian nerd, or something!?", Barbar blurts out despite herself, finding it way too amusing, both hands over her lips as if she could keep the words from coming out. For a moment she stays like that and she grins "I am -so- not interested in going to a island full of women... OHMIGODS, I would totally lose my shit, and also... I kinda -like- men! Toys do -not- do it for me, and speaking of which, it's been a while...". Valkyrie takes a deep sigh and looks at Kara "Oh well, can't be thinking about that now. So! I was thinking of something friendly, not nasty like in WWE! Don't want to hurt you or get hurt!", and with a smile, she looks about "I mean... I can't really punch you. I would never hurt you!" Kara Zor-El winces a bit about the nerd thing. "If you asked Kon, he'd say I was a total nerd, yeah." She smiles again a bit, then says absolutely nothing about the 'toys' thing and how it's been a while for Val since she ... ahem. Considering Kara's never ... a-hem. She pauses. "Yeah don't worry about the hurting me thing. Just... you know, try to not hit where I can't do something to roll with the punch if you do hit me. I had this ex-boyfriend who almost busted his fist before I learned how to turn my head when someone punches me in the face or move back a bit when hit in the stomach. But I'm pretty good at pulling punches now. We could also use weapons if you want. Probably would make things a lot more even, though.... maybe you could not use dragonfang? I mean... if you actually laid a hit on me with it, it would probably hurt a lot. I'm not good with magic." "I... I really can't hurt you, or even try to hurt you... and I fight kinda cheap! I mean... I can be... kinda nasty. That's how I learned how, and that's what kept me one step ahead. I can't quite do that with you for real... is it okay if I go slow?", she asks, taking the center of the mat. "And of course I am not using Dragonfang on you! It would be totally unfair and you could get seriously hurt, and I am not doctor!", Barbara says worried, looking around a bit nervous. "Look, can we start a bit slow?" Kara Zor-El sets the controls, "We can start as slow as you want. And it's fine about um... fighting dirty. Artemis used to all the time, she'd always say there were no rules in battle. My cousin would definitely disagree but... you know... amazons." She shrugs. "Yeah! Amazons, right? Totally...", the woman mumbles a bit, as if they are talking about something she knows very well. She doesn't want to look stupid, as usual, but she assumed a very stiff stance of karate. Not specific for any particular style, Barbara's pose seems very basic, almost amateur-ish. Thing about Valkyrie's instincts, however, is that she doesn't wait for her friend to make a movie, instantly moving forward to grab Kara from behind, grabbing both of the Maid of Steel's legs to drop her on the ground with care. It is obvious the girl is not using much strength, but there is actual technique in the way she moves her shoulders, trying to subdue her oponent. If Kara was a normal person, or even someone slightly stronger than Val, the technique Val is using would have certainly caused Kara to lose her balance and fall flat on her back. Of course, technique only goes so far - especially in a spar where the other person is already braced and ready for a fight. The girl doesn't budge at first, then it's almost like Kara remembers that this is actually about technique, not powers, and she does in fact fall down on the ground. "Wow... okay you need to teach me that move.' she grunts, before her feet go up to Val's midsection and she pushes with her legs at Barbara's midsection, taking care to not kick -too- hard. "S-Sure!", says Barbara between groans and growls, trying to hold onto Kara and glue their stomachs together to keep the other blonde from doing exactly what she, with her immense strength, does, and soon enough Valkyrie is crouching a few feet away from the kryptonian, rubbing her tummy. It doesn't take long for the asgardian to get on the offensive again, relentelessly, once again going for Kara's legs, but this time grabbing just the right one with both arms. Whenever the younger blonde steps firmly on the ground with her left leg, trying to escape, however, Valkyrie tries to trip the girl, almost as if luring this movement from Kara by grabbing onto a single leg and attacking the other when the opportunity presents itself. Kara Zor-El has definitely been trained. Her technique isnt as good as Valkyrie's by a longshot, but she's been trained by experts. That's clear enough. Even if she didn't have her powers, she'd likely be dangerous in a fight. But the first time and second time, Barbar does manage to knock Kara off balance with technique. To a lot of people, though, it would be obvious that Kara's putting some thought into her reactions - doing what would happen if she WASNT invulnerable or so strong. But there's only so much she's capable of holding back on her natural inclination to use her powers, and Kara's natural inclination tends to be to break out of the holds rather quickly. Plus when Valkyrie goes on the offensive a third time, Kara uses a Klukor maneuver which Barbara would almost certainly not know of. Her foot sweeps forward behind Valkyrie when tries to trip Kara for the third time in a row, then pulling her leg forward as her arm grabs at the ankle and her shoulder goes into Barbara's midsection. It's almost like a cross between a wrestling move and a kung fu maneuver, resulting in a type of leg lock with Valkyrie on her back. Might not have worked so well if Kara wasnt so freakishly strong though, even when holding back. Unlike Kara, who has worked since coming to Earth on how to handle her own strength, Barbara has no such qualms, and as soon as Supergirl has her on any kind of hold Valkyrie is struggling, a -lot-. While the Asgardian's strengh isn't comparable to the Kryptonian's, the Chosen of Slaughter grits her teeth and fights the takedown enough so Kara is sure she could have hurt some other superheroes. It is obvious Barbara knows nothing of her own strength aside being 'awesome'. And yet it is to no avail, because Valkyrie ends up on the ground, Kara on top of her. Although it seems to be just a game, however, Barbara apparently hits with her face on the way down, readily curling into a ball after giving a high-pitched scream, both her legs kicking out in somekind of agony. "AW! FUCK!", she hisses and whines, face on the ground, body curled. Kara Zor-El seems startled as Barbara screams, letting go of Valkyrie and freeing her from the leg lock Klukor maneuver. It wasnt supposed to hurt, just immobilize! Crap, Rao did she use too much force? It's always harder to judge with people who are superstrong! "What? What ... I'm sorry!" she says quickly, flying back a bit and hovering in midair in the sparring area. Honestly, the girl does sometimes get scared that she doesnt know how to gauge things as readily as Kal can. Then again Kal has had decades to learn how to. And in a blur to most, probably not to Kara, Valkyrie is turning and grabbing the kryptonian by the blouse. It is not, however, Barbara's (or Brunhilde's?) intention to pull the beautiful alien down, she knows it's impossible. Instead the asgardian pretends to use what she expects it to be startling to Kara, and use the momentum of the kryptonian backing up mid-air to literally mount Supergirl on the air, both arms around the girl's head to keep Kara from looking anywhere, making the flight shorter and hoping to have Kara hitting somewhere. She didn't think this through, but then again, Barbara is in auto-pilot, really hoping to impress her friend. "Hah! GOT YA!", she teases giggling. Considering the girl has lifted 450,000 ton super tankers and entire islands, having the Asgardian on her isnt actually much of an imposition, though Kara was startled and it took her a few seconds to realize she didnt just seriously injure her friend. This was Valkyrie 'fighting dirty.' By the time she does realize that though, she's hit herself backwards in the air into the force field of the training area, with Valkyrie hitting it first, harder than Kara would have intended. And there goes Valkyrie's air, the noises the woman's body makes when being crushed by Kara audible to the kryptonian as she seems to fracture something around the rib area. Going cross-eyed for a moment Barbara lets go of her friend, going as far as mixing her religions "AWJESUS!", she screams, hitting the ground not soon after. Still, she stands up not much time later, gritting her teeth and playing it off, even if Kara can still see that her friend is woozy, but is not letting herself be beat just yet. That would be unimpressive, and if she is unimpressive then Supergirl is not going to want Barbara anywhere near her during her crimefighting adventures. Still, standing in wobbly legs, the blonde breathes in harder, talking so she can catch her breath, trying to trick Kara into waiting (something her friend would do anyway). "SO! Y-you totally trust too much! You gotta be, like, smarter! Now everyone is super honest when fighting!". Kara Zor-El lands quickly on the ground after Valkyrie goes down then gets back up on wobbly legs. "I think I broke some of your ribs Barbara!" She looks at Barbara with x-ray vision, waiting and obviously not continuing to spar. Not that sparring was anywhere on Kara's mind after she heard the fracture. "Sorrysorrysorry!" she says as she checks from a distance for injuries. Kara says defensively, being far more cautious, realizing Valkyrie has a couple of broken ribs, "Okay. You're right Barbara. Totally right! Lesson totally learned. Now I think we should stop - your third and fourth ribs are fractured." she says, noticing with her x-ray vision. "What?! You are totally chick-chickening out!", the Asgardian smirks and stands up -almost- straight, supressing a whine that almost escapes those lips. Behind the layers of armor and flesh Kara can see that the broken ribs slowly reattach themselves to the main bone structure, a reason why Barbara is probably feeling less and less pain. In a real fight she couldn't hold a candle to a kryptonian without that magic sword of hers, but right now, taking a pause to talk, Valkyrie can certainly pull her stuff together. And she does. "Come on, what will the other heroes think of me if I can't last a single minute with you while cheating? Please! Can we try again?", the girl says a bit anxious, approaching Kara to hold her hands. Kara Zor-El bites her lip. "You really don't need to prove anything" she says, her body tensed mainly out of nervousness. The nervousness starts to ease when she sees the ribs re-setting themselves and mending. "I'm not chickening out. I mean, okay I'm chickening out a little I guess but I'm not as good at my cousin at gauging stuff like this. I thought you wanted to go slow on the spar." she says, letting Barbara hold her hands. "See?! Ohmigods... I couldn't last a -minute- with you going slow -and- while I kept cheating! Come on, Kara! I so need to learn what you know! Please! I promise I won't get hurt again! Promise!", the woman says shaking Supergirl's hand frantically, as if trying to convince her mom that they should totally take the stray dog home. Which is incredibly strange for someone to see from outside the dome of forcefields, since it's a full-fledged asgardian warrioress doing it to Kara. Kara Zor-El protests at first. "Barbara I can already see that you're a better fighter than me. I mean, I could show you Klukor moves but it's pretty obvious you're better at actual fighting. It's just the... you know... strength stuff." She pauses as Valkyrie is pretty much begging to continue, and sighs. "Okay.. we can spar a little more, but um... hey.. since you are better at fighting than I am, maybe, I don't know.. you could teach ME moves too? Like that thing you did to knock me over several times." "...", it's exactly what Valkyrie responds, still holding Kara's hands. She doesn't move, but doesn't let go either, and peering at Kara for a moment the blonde just seems to have her head empty, but in the next moment she just jumps in the air and hugs Kara tightly "OH YES! Of -course- I will totally teach you anything! OH MY GODS, I am -so- happy! Hah! Supergirl wants my help! That is so totally fucking awesome!", and raising both hands over her lips Barbara hunches and whispers "Ohmigods sorry for saying the f-word!". She hugs Kara again, and raises the kryptonian in the air, looking up at her friend. "We are going to be like, Karate Kid and Mr. Myagi! It is totally going rock! Hah! I am for -sure- teaching you anything you want! Hah! I'm so excited!", and dropping Supergirl down the woman does two additional small jumps where she is before she gets in position. "Okay... just let me remember how I did it..." Kara Zor-El smiles as she's hugged and lets herself get all lifted. She can't help but giggle a little, then asks, "I hope it's okay that I have no idea who you're talking about." When let go and Kara's feet touch the ground again, she grins as Valkyrie seems happy about the idea of teaching her. "Well ... I mean I do sometimes fight people who are at my strength or even stronger, and I could use all the advantage I can get in those types of fights, so you'd be helping me a whole lot by teaching me." She then listens as Valkyrie attempts to explain the move. Nowhere in Asgard or Midgard would the Valkyrie be mistaken as a peasant or mortal, her appearance nothing but extraordinary: there's something about her that absolutely glows with the light of a bloody twilight, hues of orange and gold painting her already stunning features as if sun keeps chasing wherever the woman goes. The Chosen of the Slain combines, like few, unearthly beauty and raw, almost mundane attractiveness. The girl has long, straight hair, golden like Dragonfang's edge molten and woven into a few braids, the rest left loose and free, giving her a look that it's at the same time savage and angelic. The warrior's face is young and devious, always showing eagerness to go and do something incredible, not wasting time with thoughts or plans, a pert, perfectly shaped nose and full, curvy lips enhancing the her vivid-blue eyes beaming with energy. Standing before her you have no idea if she is about to challenge you for a drinking contest, steal you for a wild night or start a friendly sparring match. Barbara looks down and seems to take her time to remember what she has just done to Kara while sparring. Valkyrie moves her arms a bit, frowns, shakes her head, and suddenly she smiles some and looks at Supergirl "Okay. Okay. I think I've got this... So! Lets say you are, like, fighting an evil clone of yours! She is, like, almost as strong as you, but not -as- strong because she is not you and she sucks, but this clonegirl is giving you a lot of trouble! One thing you can do is just shoot at her...", and while she speaks the Asgardian goes to hug Supergirl's torso at the level of Kara's navel, shoulder to the girl's tummy, head under her armpit. "Here, I can kinda control your legs!", the blonde says putting her palms behind Kara's knees and pulling at her, "And I can -induce- you into putting your strength in a move to shake me off. Thing is, if I expect you to do this, because I baited you into doing it and since you are the clone it means I'm you, and I'm totally smart and you are not, I can use -your- strength to my advantage! I pull at one knee, you think I want to actually pull at it, and when you use your strength to take that leg away from me, I attack the other and drop you!" And standing back again the asgardian bites her lip, grinning "That totally sucked... didn't it? I can't learn math, I can't teach combat!" Kara Zor-El nods a little. "Actually ... I think there is a clone of me. And... I think she's a little stronger than I am actually." She then watches as you do the move on Kara, moving along with it and not resisting. She smiles as you explain it to her and visually show it. "Actually, that will probably help a LOT! Like I said, there's this clone of me that I fought and ... well... I could tell, I think she's a little stronger than I am. I managed to stall her but she took my hits and was able to more than keep up with me. Luckily others were there to help." Kara pauses. "Plus I did fight a little dirty." She then smiles a bit. "So every little advantage helps." "Well, she may be, like, stronger than you, but I'm sure she still totally sucks!", the asgardian grins widely before she leans in to kiss Kara's cheek "You are going to fight dirtiest, nastiest fight this clone of yours ever saw, and she is going to have nightmares thinking about you! We are going to turn you into a kryptonite dust-hurling, sucker punching winning machine if we have to!". "Which is why I can totally be of help! I mean, grapeling... no wait.. grappling! Grappling is all about using someone's strength in your favor, and you are much smarter than me, which means you can trick people a lot better to! So that trick with the legs works with other things aswell! If your opponent can't fly, too? He is -toasted-!" Kara Zor-El gets all kissed and hugged and smiles. "You really shouldn't put yourself down so much you know. There are all types of intelligence, after all. I'm sure there's a few areas where you're smarter than me as well." She hugs back. "So um.... are we done with sparring now?" "Lets do the traditional thing people on this planet do after a great battle. White Castle!"